The Current Development And Prospect Of The Kong Zi Institute University Of Malaya Under The Background Of Malaysian Chinese Society

Malaysia is a very unique society comparing with other South East Asian countries whereby Malaysia Chinese society has its own Chinese language education system and Chinese culture is fully inherited by most of the Malaysian Chinese. Recently, in line with China’s rapid growth, the whole world is in "Chinese Craze" and there is undoubtedly an emerging "Mandarin fever" in Malaysia as well. However, due to Malaysian Chinese society’s unique situation, many could not comprehend the motive and intention of the emergence of Confucius Institute in Malaysia. Some even believed that the role of Confucius Institute is unclear, and it might interfere with the existing Chinese education system in Malaysia. Regarding Kong Zi Institute University of Malaya①in Malaysia, it’s important to investigate the fact that with the existing Malaysian Chinese education system already possesses the ability to propagate the Chinese language and culture, what are the current roles and the development goals of this institute, and what are some of the challenges it may face in the future?By further looking into the history of Malaysian Chinese society, the characteristic of Malaysian Chinese education, and the latest development of Confucius Institute, this paper will help better understand the opportunity of Confucius Institute in Malaysia in areas such as student source and ways of propagating Chinese language and culture. In order to form a clear picture of Malaysian Chinese society, the author will first probe into the background of Malaysian Chinese society, i.e. the immigration history of the early Chinese and the formation process of the Chinese society in Malaysia. Next, the author will probe into the characteristics of Malaysian Chinese education and also its Teaching Chinese As Second Language (TCSL) course, which hopefully will outline the current development of Malaysian Chinese education. Also, the author will probe into the current development, the characteristic and the mode of running school of Confucius Institute before providing the latest development of Confucius Institute in Malaysia through investigations and data analysis to expound its overall situation such as management and faculty, classroom teaching methods, and culture activities. Furthermore, in order to avoid prejudicial judgments towards Confucius Institute, the author will also include the interviews that showing the perspectives from a number of experts and scholars on this subject matter. Finally, based on the data collected (through surveys and interviews), the author will try to point out the current problems or issues that Confucius Institute faces in Malaysia, and thence recommend the suitable methods to assist Confucius Institute to progress further and have a better prospect in Malaysia.